Landon Donovan left off US Soccer World Cup roster; Wondo in.

When U.S. Soccer hired Jurgen Klinsmann to be the national team coach three years ago, one thing was clear. Klinsmann – who won a World Cup, played in three and coached Germany to the semifinals of another – was not going to take orders from anyone when it came to his roster.

He proved that point this afternoon, when he released – far earlier than expected – his final 23-man roster for the 2014 World Cup. There were several surprises: among them the inclusion of Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski.

But no surprise was bigger than this:

Landon Donovan, the face of U.S. Soccer for the past 12 years, was left off the roster.

The player who has played in more World Cup games (twelve) and scored more World Cup goals (five, including the extra time goal to push the United States into the second round) won’t be going to Brazil.

You can’t say Klinsmann didn’t give us plenty of hints that he was headed in this direction. He left Donovan out of the starting lineup in the team’s last game, in April against Mexico, because Donovan wasn’t fit. Though this week, Donovan, 32, said his fitness has been among the tops on the team, it apparently wasn’t enough.

This, it seems, came down to an issue of trust. Donovan broke Klinsmann’s trust in early 2013, when he took time away from the team, even though it was right in the middle of a critical World Cup qualifying push. Donovan went to Cambodia and kicked the ball around with school children while his team was struggling to book a trip to Brazil.

Word was that Klinsmann was both exasperated and baffled by Donovan’s laissez-faire attitude about the most important tournament in his sport, arguably in all of sports. It’s likely that Donovan’s fate was sealed then and that it would take extraordinary steps to convince Klinsmann that he belonged.

Though Donovan did well when he returned to the team last summer, he apparently never fully convinced Klinsmann that he could be relied on in a desperate battle. And make no mistake: the U.S. team’s attempt to get out of group play in Brazil will be a desperate battle.

Klinsmann addressed Donovan before camp opened at Stanford, saying, ”Since he took his break, I simply told him, ‘If you take a break like that, then you have to fight your way back into the picture and you have to confirm it week in, week out with performances for your club team and also with the national team. I’m straightforward with him every time that I see him.

“With all the appreciation and admiration for what he’s done throughout his career, which is extraordinary and deserves the compliments that he gets, soccer is about what happens today. What you do today and what you hopefully do tomorrow.

“We’re not building the group based on the past. We’re building the group based on what we experience and go through together and what we believe is the right decision.”

He also told 60 Minutes Sports, “When I see experienced players … relax a second and think, ‘I’m there because of who I am,’ I get mad. I don’t want them to do that because the moment you relax means you’re done. You should call it a day.”

He didn’t name names, but you can guess who he’s talking about. Because there are only a handful of American players who have done enough to take that attitude and Donovan was one of them.

When Donovan met the press on Monday I asked him if this World Cup camp was more competitive than any of the other three he’d been in.

“For me, I sort of liken it to 2002,” said Donovan, who was only 20 then. “In ’06 and ’10 I knew for the most part, unless I was awful, that I was going to make the team. This time is more similar to ’02, when I wasn’t sure.”

Some thought that was fake humility. As it turns out it wasn’t.

Klinsmann is taking a chance. The U.S. has such a difficult group- facing Ghana, Portugal and Germany – that there aren’t particularly high expectations this time around. But if the U.S. falls on its face without its most experienced player, Klinsmann will be blamed.